Legal Opinions Wanted on McNair Arbitration Hearing

Although some people seem to think the Titans are "wrong" by refusing to allow McNair access to their facilities, the arbitration hearing next week won't be decided by "right" vs "wrong". It will be decided by legalities and technicalities, in my lay opinion, based on McNair's contract, the NFL-NFLPA CBA, legal precedent, and labor law.

The NFLPA will be represented by their lawyers and the Titans will be represented by their general counsel, Steve Underwood. I'm sure Underwood has called in some consultants who specialize/concentrate in labor law.

We have some forum members in the legal profession and I'm interested in hearing some of their opinions on what the arbitrator might decide (based on what we know about the situation). If you don't mind, it would also be helpful if you would state your position (attorney, paralegal, etc.) and if you have experience in labor law/arbitration.

After we get a legal opinion or two, I'd like to invite laymen to ask our experts their questions.

Not exactly what you're looking for, I may be in law school, but I don't get to take sports law until next year.

Without any legal knowledge on the subject at hand, it seems to me that it's likely that the arbitration hearing could find for the team. At least on precedent, several other teams have asked a player not to work out at their facilities during renegotiation, that's one reason why for most teams and players, it's done in the offseason. While I don't remember exact examples from that angle, players refuse to come to workouts all the time when they are renegotiating, and it should at least work both ways.

I don't have any idea what the details of an NFL contract look like, but I'd bet the team keeps a lot of leeway for what they're allowed to do with a player under contract.

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